Michael Stephens discussed A Culture of No and pointed to a great post at Blog about Libraries called Which "Culture of" Is Your Workplace? Since Michael quoted from it, I won't do that here, other than to say you should click that last link and read the whole thing. It's very thoughtful and inspiring.

I will, however, quote from the post that in turn inspired it.

Yes, and

"So, here is the challenge. Whenever you want to say 'but,' stop yourself and begin with 'yes, and' instead. It will be hard at first, perhaps, to find common ground, but your conversations (and even negotiations) will be more successful if you remove the word 'but' from your vocabulary and do your part to build a culture of yes in your organization." [Creative Outlet Labs]

This really hit home with me, and I've printed it out to post in my office.

Both posts quote Weiden+Kennedy's five rules of creativity, of which numbers one and five are my favorites:

• "Act Stupid. 'Our philosophy is to come in ignorant every day. The idea of retaining ignorance is sort of counterintuitive, but it subverts a lot of [problems] that come from absolute mastery. If you think you know the answer better than somebody else does, you become closed to being fresh.' states Jelly Helm, creative director."


• "Be Fearless. 'Do anything, say anything. In the words of our president, Dan Wieden, 'You're not useful to me until you've made three momentous mistakes.' He knows that if you try not to make mistakes, you miss out on the value of learning from them.' "

Note that the rules are "act stupid" and "be fearless," not "be stupid" and "act fearless." That means you have to be willing to try new things and not pretend you really mean it. Regression of services is not the answer.

I've truly been surprised at the number of "yes, ands" I've been hearing at ALA. I know - I sound like the newylwed, and I am, but I really wasn't expecting this. It's been a refreshing change, and I hope ALA really means it.

It's also been heartening to see how many library blogs are talking about creativity, innovation, and transformation of services. And not in big, huge, Nobel-prize-size services, but even just small changes that remove barriers for patrons (and just as importantly, for ourselves). Unfortunately, I don't have time right now to do a roundup, but I think it's safe to say that this will be an ongoing discussion (it's not really new but seems to be resurfacing again) and that we will continue to see exciting new intersections of service.

Maybe a lot of it has to do with the recent "rules in libraries" discussion, too. For an interesting way to start that discussion in your library, I highly recommend a children's book I read today called Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen and Kevin Hawkes. "There weren't any rules about lions at story hour, either."

Yes, innovation and inspiration can come from the most interesting places, but you have to be open to them and be able to see the possibilities.